Attraction of Opposites
by annahhhhh
Summary: Or rather, lack thereof. Starting a new school isn't great, but it's not too bad. Leon wishes he could say the same for his new classmate. Fuck oxymorons, he's a stupid genius. A stupid, snobby genius. Who really needs to lose some of his airs and graces. Soon. Let's see how this pans out. School!AU, HongIce, profanity and a lot of insults. A LOT of insults.
1. Chapter 1: Dulux Originated In Korea

Unlike this rather beautiful glass of Coke, I don't own Hetalia. The Coke doesn't either. It's me who owns the Coke. But not Hetalia. Or Dulux. I own a covering of it, though. That's on my wall. It looks good, if I may say so myself. And I may. Because I say so.

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites**

**Chapter One: Dulux Originated In Korea**

* * *

Leon really hated his family sometimes.

From time to time, he would question _why_ exactly he had been born into one of the most dysfunctional families in existence, beaten only by his cousin's family.

But that's a different story.

The point was, Leon was irritated.

For you see, he was not only expected to share a bedroom with one of his siblings - a complete invasion of his privacy - he was expected to share a bedroom with his Korean half-brother, Yong Soo.

And as nice as Yong Soo _surely_ was _deep down_ and all of that, Leon really did not want to be groped in his sleep, thank you. Nor did he want to have to endure K-pop every waking moment of his day; catchy it may be, to Leon's tastes it was not.

And don't even get him _started_ on the way Yong Soo was planning on decorating their new room.

A Korean flag covering one wall? Everything in black, white, red and blue? Posters of Korean celebrities everywhere? _Really?_

Well, excuse Leon for actually _having_ some taste.

...perhaps that was a little harsh.

But at least Leon wasn't planning on torturing his morning self. If he had it his way, it would be done tastefully in blacks, whites and greys, with accents of other colours here and there. Yong Soo could have his posters on one of the walls on his side of the room, Leon would have his (_totally_ not A1) poster of Jackie Chan on his side. The furniture would be sleek, but not so modern that it was reminiscent of an office. A single Korean flag would hang above Yong Soo's bed - likewise, the flag of Hong Kong would be above Leon's.

But it wasn't as if he'd put much thought into it, or anything.

He didn't understand why exactly they had to leave their old house, either.

It was something to do with being closer to Leon's uncle and his family - the aforementioned dysfunctional cousins, the Bonnefoy-Kirklands - but why exactly that required moving house, he didn't know. Pointless, in his oh-so-humble opinion.

He had been trying to keep a positive outlook on it - he rather liked Matthew, Alfred not so much, but Matthew was calm and quiet, two traits Leon valued greatly, having grown up in a household of eight - until, that is, he was shown into his room.

And saw Yong Soo sitting on the windowsill, nose in some sort of magazine and iPod playing what could only be the dreaded K-pop.

What the hell had Leon done in a previous lifetime to deserve this?

As he saw his brother enter, Yong Soo had thrown down the magazine and raced towards Leon, flinging his arms around him and nearly knocking him over.

And then proceeded to explain his ideas on the interior decoration.

Because Dulux apparently originated in Korea. Disregarding the fact that it's part of a Dutch company.

_Naturally._

Leon despaired of his family. When he didn't detest them, that is.

Why couldn't he just have a normal family? Like... Like-

Leon didn't know of any normal families.

This worried him slightly.

Oh, well. With a bit of luck, he might meet someone normal at his new school.

That was another thing he was annoyed about.

He wasn't the world's most social person - his social life was mainly comprised of Tumblr and deviantART - so in moving schools, he wasn't really leaving behind any friends, but one thing about his new school stood out in the most horrible way...

They wore uniform.

As you might imagine, this was quite an unappealing idea for Leon, who lived in skinny jeans and adorable printed t-shirts (so manly, right?). His new uniform consisted of neither of these things - he was now expected to wear grey trousers, a shirt and tie, a jumper and - the worst part - a _blazer_.

He shuddered at the thought.

Yes, he'd seen photographs, and sure, they looked smart, but they also looked like Hogwarts students. All that was missing was the owl.

Enough sulking, though.

Time to kick Yong Soo out into the garden.

"Hey, brother," Leon said to his Korean sibling, "I thought I heard someone playing Gangnam Style earlier - why don't you like, go and see if you can find them? Show them how it's done or something."

Yong Soo's strange hair-curl seemed to flick up in interest, and his face lit up. "Sure! No one can beat me when it comes to dancing! Gangnam Style originated in Korea!"

Well, that got rid of him. And for once, he was right.

Fishing his tablet out of his bag, Leon saw that his new neighbours hadn't bothered to set a code for their wifi.

_Don't mind if I do._

And, like that, Leon had entertainment for the rest of his life.

Well, not quite as long as that.

He'd get bored of Tumblr at some point.

Then, he might consider going outside of his bedroom.

...'_might_' being the key word there. Although, he'd have to give it a rest once he started at his new school - AKA, in seven days.

Enter his smartphone.

It was at that point in his idle musing and internet surfing that his mother opened the door to his room, and it occurred to him that he ought to get a lock for that.

"Li Xiao, sweetie, your boxes are in the hall," she said, her smile telling him to _obey or else_.

Groaning, Leon stood up from his position - sprawled out on the carpet, as the room had yet to be furnished - and staggered over to the door. He stumbled his way downstairs, grabbed everything marked _'LEON'S SHIT'_ and hauled it and himself back upstairs, pausing only to creep up behind Yao and give the older boy a shock.

"Li Xiao! Come back here!" Yao yelled at him as he traipsed back to his domain.

"Sorry, Yao," he called over his shoulder, not really meaning it. Teasing his brothers was much too fun to resist and really feel bad about.

Holding his boxes in one arm in a precarious pile, he pushed open the door to his and Yong Soo's room again, only to find another of his siblings sitting cross-legged on the floor, nose in a manga.

"Hey, Kiku. What are you doing in here?" Leon asked his brother. He liked Kiku - the Japanese seventeen-year-old was much calmer and quieter than most of his family, and a lot less creepy than the others (cough-Mei-cough), and he always let Leon borrow his manga, unlike Yao, who guarded his book collection like Leon's Canadian cousin did his hockey stick.

Kiku stood up, bowing formally to Leon. "Ah, Leon-kun! I am terribly sorry, I did not mean to intrude! I was just trying to - ah - _evade_ Mei-chan for a while - she seems to have taken to following me around, I don't quite understand why..."

Leon rolled his eyes. "Kiku, I'm your _brother_ - you don't have to refer to me as '-kun'. And it's fine, you aren't intruding."

"Arigatou, Leon-ku- Leon. Thank you," Kiku said, flashing him a grateful look.

Dumping his armful of stuff on the bed-less floor - they were expecting the larger furniture to be delivered the next day, and were planning on spending the night in sleeping bags, for lack of a better solution - Leon began arranging his possessions on the side of the room he had decided to claim as his. Slowly sorting his stuff into relatively tidy piles, he steadily made progress on his mountain of probably unnecessary belongings, blissfully uninterrupted by any Korea-obsessed maniacs.

Of course, the peace could only last for so long.

"_Heeeeeeeeeey_, Leon! Hey, Kiku!" Yong Soo yelled, appearing in the doorway.

Leon facepalmed.

"Oh... Konnichiwa, Yong Soo-kun..."

"I thought you were like, teaching the neighbours to dance?" Leon questioned his brother.

"Oh, I was, but they were busy suddenly, for some reason!" Yong Soo replied brightly.

"And who can blame them?" Leon said in an undertone.

Yong Soo gave him a confused look, as Kiku gave a quiet snicker. "What?"

"Nothing, don't worry. Your stuff's probably downstairs, why don't you like, go get it?"

"Oh, okay!" Yong Soo bounded out of the room happily, singing under his breath in Korean.

"Leon-kun, that was mean," Kiku reprimanded, hiding a smile.

"He's annoying. What d'you expect?"

"I am saying nothing..."

Leon grinned at his brother, putting the last of his school stuff on the respective pile. "You agree with me." It wasn't a question.

"Ah, now did I ever say that?"

"You like, implied it."

Kiku gave him an amused look. "Since when could you read between the lines?"

"I've been spending too much time with you, clearly."

"Be careful what you say, Leon-kun, you may just lose access to my manga collection..."

Leon gave him a scandalised look. "You _wouldn't_..."

"Be very careful..." Kiku teased him.

Leon gave him a mock glare, turning away huffily. A few moments later, Yong Soo returned, his own tower of belongings only just balanced in his arms. "Hey, Kiku, Mei's looking for you..."

Kiku cursed quietly in Japanese and jumped up, marking his place in his manga with a printed bookmark produced from seemingly nowhere. "Arigatou, Yong Soo-kun... Goodbye, Leon-kun, and good luck." With that, the raven-haired teenager hurried out of the brothers' room, leaving Leon to smirk and Yong Soo to give him a confused look. Leon waved this off, telling him to get on with sorting his stuff, and headed downstairs to annoy some of his other siblings.

All in a day's work.

* * *

The next day was the same, to some extent.

Leon and Yong Soo had a minor argument about interior decoration, but two teenaged boys in one room was never going to be a calm affair - it was, naturally, only the first of a steady stream of incidents.

Their furniture arrived - and a good thing too, it was uncomfortable sleeping on the floor, despite the cushions and pillows Leon had commandeered from Yao - and, once Leon had persuaded Yong Soo to let him arrange the furniture in their room, it didn't look half-bad.

The next day was similar, and the next... Before long, it was Sunday again, and Leon was throwing his books into his satchel with very little care.

Nervous? Him? _Never_. Which was precisely why he was _most definitely not_ texting Matthew and Alfred about his new school. Likewise, a while later, in the early hours of Monday morning when Yong Soo was snoring and his phone was concealed under his duvet, Leon was not at all talking to an online friend somewhere in North America about the next day. Nope. Nuh-uh. Not at all.

...Leon had a bit of an issue with denial, it seemed.

At around five in the morning, Leon finally turned off his phone, eyelids heavy and sleep beckoning. Ready? For school? Of course! He was already sleep-deprived - a sure sign of being ready to tackle the hell we call education.

His dreams that night were filled with images of seas of students, all bearing a strange resemblance to his cousins.

* * *

**A/N**

I'm back! Hello, friends! It's been too long, no? I'm sorry! Blame exams! They all get condensed into the space of a week, which is very unhelpful! ...okay, okay, enough excuses. So... Here's the aforementioned HongIce!

For those of you who are not reading this because you read Fire and Ice, welcome! You'll soon find out that short chapters, long author's notes and Coca-Cola is my style!** I generally update weekly; every Friday** unless stated otherwise beforehand. The time varies, so let's just say it's always after 5:30 pm GMT.

Onto other things! So, this is my attempt at writing a) HongIce and b) humour. I must warn you, this is a very different type of HongIce to that in F+I... To begin with, at least. Icey will be introduced soon! Ish. Meh. And I really need a new plot idea... While this is vair, vair different from F+I, I'm afraid they both start with the family moving... This one isn't quite as significant, though! Also, Leon in this is 15, and in Year 11 at his new school - the family lives in England. Where exactly I'm not really sure. It's up to you. Year 11 is the equivalent of sophomore year, I believe, and at this age, we take exams called GCSEs here in England. So Leon is currently in one of the most stressful years of his education. I have gone with the idea if him having two names - a Chinese and an English variant, as you have probably seen. Not sure why, but I really like this...

Oh, and I have nothing against K-pop, by the way. In fact, I love it~ But Leon has a different opinion on the matter, it seems :D

...what have I forgotten to say? Hmm... Not sure. I'll probably add something if I remember it. Until next week, sayonara!

~the-pottertalian (formerly multicultureiskey)


	2. Chapter 2: Quiet, Rat

Still don't own Hetalia... Yet.

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites**

**Chapter Two: Quiet, Rat**

* * *

The first thing Leon saw when he stepped out of the house was his cousin.

The second thing he saw was also his cousin.

Hair tousled and uniform creased, Leon did not look like the dedicated student he probably should. (Hey, _someone_ has to keep up the stereotype of Asian families being studious and work-oriented. It just so happened that Leon preferred to leave that to Yao and Kiku.) Matthew and Alfred, however, looked completely at ease and prepared for entering the pits of hell.

The twins smiled at him as he stumbled out of the house, sleepily running a hand through his hair and successfully messing it up further. Well. Matthew smiled at him. Alfred, however...

"Hey, dude! You ready for your first day in hell? Aw, I'm just joking! It's not that bad, honest! Well, it's not too great in Year Eleven - oh, wait, you're in Year Eleven - forget what I just said, it's great!"

It always baffled Leon how the twins managed to have such strong accents and act so like the stereotype of their home countries despite having lived in England for most of their lives - Alfred was just so _American_, and Matthew was the quiet, unobtrusive type of person (with an unnerving talent for ice hockey) that Canadians seemed to be generalised as.

Then again, with parents like Arthur and Francis...

Leon winced, both at the thought and the overly tight hug Alfred was giving him. "Hey, Alfred," he choked out, "mind putting me down?"

Alfred appeared to either ignore or not hear what he said, not relinquishing his tight embrace at all. Matthew, however, heard him and gave him a sympathetic look. "Al, leave him alone. You're strangling him."

"What? Oh, sorry, dude! Didn't mean to hurt'cha!" Alfred's apology didn't sound particularly sincere - or perhaps Leon was misinterpreting it, distracted by the feeling of regaining the ability to breathe. Matthew just rolled his eyes at his brother, beginning to walk in the direction of their school, which was conveniently near the house.

"Come on, we'll be late... Leon doesn't particularly want to get a mark on his record on his first day..."

Leon didn't particularly care, to tell the truth, but he was quite keen on leaving the area around the house, seeing his siblings giving him innocent smiles as they rubbed in the fact that Leon was the only one attending school that day. As Kiku, Lien and Kasem were all supposed to be in the Sixth Form, they were taking a day off to 'sort out admin affairs', Yao was starting university in a few weeks and Yong Soo and Mei had annoyed their parents into giving them the day off. That left Leon alone and really rather irritated. Then again, he would get his revenge when he finished months earlier than most of them.

Disregarding the fact that he had a bunch of stressful exams to deal with before that. Of course.

Alfred sprinted ahead excitedly, having spotted one of his classmates. Matthew once again rolled his eyes and increased his pace a little to keep up with his brother. Dragging himself out of his thoughts, Leon followed, not wanting to be left behind.

The two watched as Alfred greeted his friend enthusiastically, clapping him on the back and ruffling his hair. The other student hugged the American back, giving him a wide smile. "Ve, Alfredo, who's your friend?"

"Oh, yeah! Hey, Leon, meet Feliciano Vargas! Feli, this is our cousin, Leon - he and his family just moved to this area. Hey, where's Lovino?"

"He went ahead with Toni, I think!" The Italian trilled, giving Leon a friendly grin. "Ciao, Leon! It's good to meet you!"

Leon nodded his head. "You too." _Enough of the formalities, just let me get to school so I can sleep in class!_

Luckily for Leon, Matthew also wanted to get to school. "Alfred, what did I say about Leon not being late?"

"Oh, sorry..."

The rest of the walk was spent with Alfred and Feliciano talking about football and food, and Matthew quietly discussing random topics with Leon. As they began to approach the school, Leon started to become more and more nervous, fidgeting a little and pulling at threads on his new blazer. It wasn't as if he was scared about the prospect of being the 'new kid' - it was simply that he and schools didn't get along particularly well.

Or rather, he and other students didn't get along particularly well.

It wasn't that he was antisocial. Perhaps he was quite quiet, but that wasn't the problem. It was simply that he was often seen as a geek - despite whatever Yao might say, he often received fairly good marks in exams, read manga, watched anime, played geeky RPGs... Other students generally saw him as more of someone to tease as opposed to someone to make friends with.

Then again, if Matthew and Alfred could have the amount of friends that they did, Leon would surely be fine.

He reassured himself with this thought as they approached the school - a large, red-brick building with seas of students swarming around it. He followed the instructions his cousins - who had now gone to their own classes - had given him, and daydreamed his way though around ten minutes of admin drone, then made his way to his classroom.

Upon entering the classroom, he noticed one thing in particular.

The class was completely out of control.

At the back, a boy was charging his iPhone while talking to his companion and stuffing his face with a doughnut. His friend was wearing a hoodie instead of a blazer and had one headphone in and a smartphone in his hand that he was paying more attention to than he was his friend, while a well-endowed girl sat on the table, swinging her legs, twirling her hair and laughing at almost every word that came out of Doughnut Boy's mouth. The desk in front of that was filled with a group of girls with almost identical, floral-patterned pencil cases and bleached blonde hair in high ponytails. To the side, a quartet of manly-looking males grouped together, talking about guns and sport. Behind them, a couple of girls chattered excitedly while their companion tried not to collapse onto her desk from exhaustion - clearly, someone had forgotten their coffee that morning.

Leon's first thought was to run screaming from the classroom.

His second thought was to hide in one of the battered yellow lockers occupying random stretches of the classroom walls.

His third thought was to just whip out the ninja star that he wished he kept in his blazer (and that he wished he could use in the first place) and slay these beasts.

The thought he went with was probably his fifty-thousandth: to walk calmly over to an empty desk and alert his form tutor of his presence. The teacher was kind, Leon decided, but nervous. Evidently, she needed to exercise a little more discipline on his class; in Leon's opinion, she needed to start with the girl whose attention had now turned to the 'new kid' in the class. Flicking a strand of peroxide-soaked hair over her shoulder, she batted false eyelashes and bared pointy white teeth in what Leon supposed was meant to be a seductive grin.

Leon raised a single eyebrow in cool disdain. In return, the girl huffed and turned back to the boy with the doughnut, who had paused in his monologue to smirk at her. Schadenfreude, my friend.

He pulled out his timetable and scanned his lessons for the day, sighing as he saw that he had both Physics and Maths in one day. Great. My first day, and already I have to face the darkest depths of hell. His eyes rested on 'Art, Room 53, RT' occupying the third box in the column labelled 'MON', his frown easing a touch. At least he had something bearable on his first day - just two hours of what could only be hell beforehand.

Before long, the pack of animals that he was now supposed to call his class were dividing into groups among themselves in order to scurry off to their lessons, leaving Leon with little distraction and little idea of where to go.

Not that he got lost for five minutes, or anything. That would be lame. Leon wasn't lame. End of.

When he finally arrived at the correct classroom, the teacher only had to raise an eyebrow at him, run a eye over his dishevelled hair and brand-new homework planner to draw the correct conclusion. He glanced around the room for a second, brain working fast as he tried to decide where would be the least awkward place to sit, and headed towards an empty seat by a girl with short, blonde hair.

The girl glanced up from her doodling, offered him a sweet smile smile and then promptly went back to her drawing, hair falling over her face in a way that Leon really rather liked.

"Hey," he started, glancing at her exercise book, his tone a touch lower than normal, "Lilli. That's a pretty name. Suits y-"

All of a sudden, Leon had a rather nasty headache that forced him to break off from his words. And he could have sworn he heard some sort of a metallic clang - then again, with this headache he might have been hallucinating - _god_, his head hurt -_why? _

"Eliza! That was mean! He was only trying to be nice!"

"He was trying to flirt with you, Lilli. Look at him, he's a total player! Gotta be careful of these people, honey, just protecting your innocence..."

Where were those voices coming from? Wait, why was his head suddenly on the desk? What the hell just happened?

"I'm sure his intentions were innocent... Anyway, you might have seriously hurt him!"

"Oh, shush, he's fine. Your problem, Lilli, is that you're just too nice. Look, he's breathing, it's all okay."

"Well... Okay, then..."

Leon groaned, and lifted his head off the desk, rubbing at the area that hurt. "Hey, what the hell was that for...?"

"See, I told you he's okay!" The voice came from behind him. Leon whipped round, forgetting completely about his headache, eyes narrowed. What he saw was a girl with waist-length brown hair and sharp green eyes, leaning over the table to the cute girl Leon had tried to talk to. Still utterly confused, he glanced at their surroundings, his artist's eye for detail drawing him to the object poking out of the bag of the girl he assumed to be 'Eliza'.

The _handle_ of a _frying pan?_

When the _hell_ did this become _Tangled_?

Now completely bemused and baffled, Leon fixed his light brown gaze on the brown-haired girl. "Did you just _hit_ me with a _frying pan_?"

She smirked. "You bet I did, sweetie."

Leon thought about replying for a second, then decided that the best course of action would be to return her favour, and raised a hand to slap the bitch that gave him this headache. It would be so good just to hear the satisfying _smack_ that his hand would make as it came into contact with her cheek - it may be a typically girly kind of assault, but in Leon's mind, it caused enough pain to compensate - how he was ready for the satisfaction - he eagerly anticipated the sadistic pleasure - he had waited long enough - nearly five entire minutes of this cow - surely his hand should have made its mark by now...?

He opened his eyes properly, having half-shut them in the pleasure that came with revenge.

Eyes the colour of jade stared back at him disapprovingly from behind that cute little blonde fringe. "It's not nice to hit a girl..."

"It's not nice to hit a guy with a frying pan, either!" Leon whined.

"I'm not saying it is, but two wrongs don't make a right."

"But she just hit me for no reason!"

"On the contrary," the brown-haired girl cut in, "you completely deserved it. In any case, the teacher's looking our way, so I think it would be best if you shut up. _Savvy?_"

Leon opened his mouth to reply, "Wha- I don't - this-" A finger was held to his lips, effectively shutting him up. Leon cursed his decision to sit next to the cute blonde girl - he couldn't have just picked the seat next to the tall guy at the back of the class, could he...? On the other hand, the creepy aura he was emitting made Leon think perhaps he made the right decision after all... But these girls were strange... Or rather, scary...

"Quiet, rat. Do you want detention?" _Rat?_ Leon glared at the taller student, severely displeased with the nickname.

"Eliza, be nice to him," Lilli chided. "Perhaps we could start over?" The two brown-haired teenagers previously locked in a war of glares glanced at her, not comprehending. "This never happened, you just met each other, introduce yourselves!"

Leon took the opportunity to preserve his life readily (the glare 'Eliza' was giving him was beginning to get a little worrying), giving Lilli a grin. "Wang Li Xiao at your service, madam; Leon Wang to friends, family and anyone who isn't Chinese."

Lilli chuckled and gave a sweet smile back. "A pleasure, Leon. I'm Lilli Zwingli, and this is Elizaveta Héderváry. She will probably stop glaring at you soon, just give her a second to notice the badges on your bag and she will be your new best friend. Isn't that right, Eliza?"

Said brunette glanced at her friend, then moved her gaze to the aforementioned bag. Slowly, her expression changed from murderous to incredulous and then simply ecstatic.

And then Leon felt himself being crushed.

"_You're an otaku?!_" Quite how Elizaveta had managed to get from the seat behind him to one next to him in a matter of seconds without causing serious damage to someone/something or - god forbid - catching the attention of the apparently oblivious teacher, Leon had no idea. But somehow, it had been done, and Lilli was giving him a sympathetic look as his breath was hugged out of him. If he had been able to, this would have been the moment wherein Leon made a snarky and humorous comment that restored his dignity in front of this very pretty blonde girl.

'Would have been' being the key phrase in that statement.

As he started to become dizzy from the lack of oxygen, Leon tried to work out how he had gone from being at risk of dying by frying pan to being a risk of dying by suffocation. His thoughts were unproductive - perhaps it had something to with the black dots dancing across his vision, but all he could focus on right now for whatever reason was the fact that Yong Soo still had his Pokémon DS game.

"Eliza, I think that's enough... He looks as if he's about to faint." _Thank you, Lilli! You wonderful, wonderful person; how can I ever repay you? Perhaps a date?_

Elizaveta released him, and the deep breath he took in as soon as he could was heavenly. "Oops, sorry... You okay, Leon?"

Leon nodded, still revelling in his newly rediscovered ability to intake air. "Y-yeah... S'okay..."

Elizaveta acknowledged this with a grin and proceeded to change the subject. "So, Leon. I have an important question for you. Do you like yaoi?"

Leon's eyes widened briefly in shock. "I - uh-"

Eliza seemed to take this as an affirmative, and clapped her hands together delightedly. "Brilliant! You see, I have this plan..."

Lilli gave him a sympathetic look, turning back to the work she had already finished and was once again doodling on.

Leon sighed. Just what had he let himself in for here?

* * *

A/N

And the author does a Hitchcock - I cameo'd in it. Bathe in my narcissism, you paperclips. I was one of the people in Leon's class - this is exactly what my tutor group are like. I have nothing against dyed blonde hair, by the way, just a lot against the girls in my class. And the guys in my class. Excepting my handful of friends.

Anyway.

Poor Leon, he picked the wrong girl to flirt with, no? He had no idea what hit him. Well, technically he did. Once he spotted the frying pan in Eliza's bag. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the kids in my school carried frying pans in their bags - okay, so my bag is large and heavy, but it almost seems as if they have a suitcase an their back.

Emil appears next chapter...

Reviews inspire me to write more of this, something that hasn't been happening often enough recently... Blame anime. It's addictive! (Though you probably know that, as you're reading a fanfic of an anime...)

Mmmkay, Aka-chan out! (Don't insult the nickname. It's adorable, and so is the person who gave me it.)


	3. Chapter 3: The Pleasure Is Yours

Yeah, no, Hetalia isn't mine. I live in hope, though. Some day... Or perhaps not.

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites**

**Chapter Two: The Pleasure Is Yours**

* * *

It didn't take long for Leon to realise that Elizaveta was completely, utterly insane.

Of course, he had his suspicions from the start. I mean, who carries around a frying pan in their schoolbag? And then proceeds to use said kitchen utensil as a weapon? And let us not forget the fact that she seemed to explode with delight upon discovering that Leon 'swung both ways' - he wasn't even sure how exactly she had managed to find that out, but he saw no point in denying it.

At least, he _hadn't_ seen any point in denying it.

In hindsight, perhaps it would have been a wise idea to draw attention away from it, taking into consideration Elizaveta's obsession with everything homosexual - now_there_ was a phrase Leon never thought would cross his mind.

But, in all honesty, it was not just Elizaveta who was somewhat lacking in sanity.

The two girls that he had met in his first lesson at his new school rapidly (and perhaps regrettably) became his close friends. Leon soon discovered that the two were part of a clique - Lilli was friends with practically everyone, it seemed, but these were the people she was closest to - and that the rest of them were as strange as each other.

From the 'fabulous' Feliks to the nervous, timid Raivis (who Leon was somewhat disappointed to find out was in fact in relationship with Lilli), they were a very, very odd bunch.

And this was precisely the reason as to why Leon fit in with them.

"Hey, Leon. D'you get what we're meant to be doing?" Eliza hissed to him.

"Sure. Why? Is it too hard for you?" He teased, receiving a glare in return.

"Just shut up and tell me what I'm meant to be doing here."

A few days after his initial meeting with Elizaveta and Lilli - and then the rest of the crowd - Leon sat next to the brown-haired girl during a particularly tedious Maths lesson. It wasn't his best subject, but it wasn't his worst either and at the moment, they seemed to be covering exactly the same stuff as he had learnt only a few months previously in his old school. The two chatted idly in between their work, conversation usually based around manga and anime but occasionally turning to school gossip and related subjects.

"So, what have you got next?" Eliza asked him, pulling out her own timetable to check her lessons as the class drew to a close and the students filed out.

"Geography. I liked it in my previous school, so it should be okay, but I haven't had a lesson here yet."

"Well, good luck. I don't take Geography anymore, but I remember the teacher I had was quite nice... He went on a bit, but you could tell he cared about his subject."

Leon nodded. "Thanks, Eliza. Have fun in... Art?"

She shook her head. "Textiles. I'm regretting choosing that subject now, it's so boring... But Lilli takes it as well, so at least I have a friend."

"Yeah... D'you, like, know anyone who would have Geography with me?"

Eliza shrugged. "I'm not sure... No, I don't think so. Sorry."

"S'okay..." They reached Elizaveta's classroom, and he gave her a little wave as she left him to struggle through the crowds of students. "See you at lunch, I guess..."

It took him a surprisingly short time to navigate his way to the specified classroom. After a couple of days, he had become used to the large seas of people crowded into an area that was somewhat inadequate in size, and started to memorise the layout of the school building. It probably helped that he now had people to ask for advice on directions (although he was still the 'odd one out' in his form). In any case, he was receiving less pitying looks as he arrived late and dishevelled after battling his way to an unknown destination.

Upon arriving at the assigned classroom, he was faced with a similar problem to the one he faced in his first lesson. However, there did not seem to be any cute girls with free seats next to them in this classroom - in fact, it seemed like the only spare seat was-

"Oh, hello. You must be Leon Wang, yes? Well, welcome to Geography! Sit down, sit down - there's a spare seat next to Emil here." Well, at least this teacher seemed kind of nice - perhaps this was the one Elizaveta had?

Gaze snapping to where the teacher was gesturing to, Leon saw that he was right - there was indeed only one spare seat. He sank down in said seat obediently, tossing his bag under the table. It took him a second to retrieve his pen and some paper to take notes with, and when he looked up he was greeted with the face of his new classmate.

"Well, hey," Leon grinned. "I'm Leon Wang, good to meet you!"

His friendly introduction was met with a stony silence, as the other looked him over, eyes flashing with something that Leon couldn't read. Paying full attention now to the other's appearance, Leon noted the unusual colouring of his classmate's eyes and hair - his hair was practically white, and his eyes - framed by silver-rimmed glasses - were a strange violet. Leon took a wild guess that this guy was an albino - that would explain his pale complexion also.

Leon felt the other's eyes linger on his untidy hair, his hastily rolled-up shirt sleeves and the blazer thrown carelessly over the back of his chair. The aforementioned violet eyes met Leon's own honey brown in a piercing gaze.

"Emil Stielsson. The pleasure is yours." His tone alone was like ice, freezing any hopes Leon had had of friendship. Shivers ran down his spine as Emil gave him a last once-over and turned back to his work with a condescending sigh.

It goes without saying that the remainder of the lesson was spent in an uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, guys, you know Emil Stielsson?"

Leon poked at his lunch with his chopsticks, not really bothering to eat anything. Next to him, Elizaveta had her arms around Roderich, who was blushing profusely. Only a fraction of the group were present, for one reason or another, but his question stole the attention of the two that were.

"Sure. Who doesn't? Unapproachable genius from Iceland," Elizaveta said matter-of-factly. "Why?"

"It's just that I now like, sit next to him in Geography. He didn't seem very keen on me..."

Roderich rolled his eyes. "Don't take that personally, Leon. He doesn't seem to like anyone. Same goes for his brother - although he at least has Køhler..."

Leon shot him a quizzical look.

"The two are infamous for being silent and unapproachable, but everyone knows Lukas is in a pretty serious relationship with the equally infamous Matthias Køhler," Elizaveta explained, her eyes shining as she spoke of the relationship.

"Oh, he's friends with my cousin..." Leon said, attracting glances from the others. "Alfred Jones?"

Green and indigo eyes widened simultaneously. "You're related to _Alfred F Jones_? What the _hell_, Leon?!" Eliza said incredulously.

"Yeah," Leon said blankly, "what's so like, weird about that?"

"Nothing, just... _Alfred_? You're nothing like him..."

"Neither is Matthew, though," Leon pointed out. "And he's his _twin_. But Alfred gets along with my brother pretty well. Birds of a feather, y'know?"

"...right."

"Anyway," Leon said, changing the subject, "so Emil's that cold to everyone?"

"Well, he's kind of distant. I wouldn't say cold, though," Roderich answered. "More like... _Private_. Very private."

"He seemed pretty cold to me..." Leon said quietly. This was apparently not heard by the couple, who had gone back to hugging, Roderich's cheeks once again stained pink.

_What did I do for Emil to be so cold to just me?_

"Hey, Emil, can you lend me a pen?" Leon asked, having found that his own had run out of ink mid-sentence.

The Icelandic student looked at him over his glasses with a disdainful expression. "Where's your own?" He asked, words laced with annoyance.

"It's like, out of ink. Please?"

"Why should I?"

Leon stared at him for a second. _What is up with him? It's just a pen! How immature can you get?_ "Because it's a nice thing to do...?"

"I suppose, if you must. Just... Don't chew on it, or anything," Emil said haughtily, wrinkling his nose at the thought. Leon wondered once again just _what_ was _up _with this guy - what had he _done_ to deserve such a frosty glare as the one given to him as he took the pen?

"Thanks..." _Ugh, this guy seriously needs to lose some of his airs and graces..._

The two carried on working in silence, until Leon broke it, determined to find out why exactly the other was so unforgiving towards him in particular.

"Hey, Emil," he said, trying not to let his apprehension show, "have I done something?"

"'Done something?'" Emil mimicked, tone chilly as ever.

Leon hastened to explain himself, becoming somewhat flustered. "I mean, like, you're always like, glaring at me and stuff and I guess I just wanted to know why...?"

"Because you're an annoying idiot, and you irritate me." _Ouch. Not sure I deserved that._

"How, though?" Leon persevered, knowing that he was probably just digging a hole for himself yet carrying on regardless.

"Your presence suffices," Emil replied frostily, looking up from his work to look Leon first in the eye and then in the same critical way he had done in their first meeting. His eyes lingered once again on Leon's untidy uniform, his slightly battered books, the tears in his schoolbag from where his cousin's bear-like dog had clawed at it...

"Yeah, well, not all of us are perfect!" Leon retorted defensively.

Emil shrugged. "You asked... I gave you the truth."

Leon shook his head in disbelief. That hadn't really cleared anything up; in his eyes, Emil was still the haughty bitch he'd come across as upon meeting each other.

And this was something that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

* * *

A/N

Emil has made an appearance! You know, writing him like this kind of reminds me of a girl in a few of my classes... She's kind of cold and mean to some people, and my friend (who used to be in her class) told me that she was described as some of the guys in their class as 'hard to get'. However, once you get to know her, she is actually quite kind... Foreshadowing, me? Never.

So... No update next week! Yeah, sorry, I'm going to France. I'm actually really excited - I haven't seen my exchange student for ages, and I really miss her! And I haven't been to France in nearly a year, so I really miss the country, as well...

Thank you for the reviews! You know what would be amazing...? More reviews! It's nice to know I have readers :D

Speaking of, to Faenil: Thank you very much! Good to know you're enjoying it, the genre isn't my strongest so I'm not really sure where I stand with it! Thanks for your review!

Mmkay, Aka-chan out! ¡Hasta luego!


	4. Chapter 4: This Is War

I own a cute new French poster from an art thing we visited on the exchange. But. Still no Hetalia.

* * *

Attraction of Opposites

Chapter Four: This Is War

* * *

"Stupid snobby Icelandic geniuses - just who does he think he is? Sure, he's got the highest grade in the class, does that make him any better than me? _No! _Yeah, so his uniform is neat and tidy and perfect, whatever, he's probably got, like, an estate and a half to his name, that's just _great_, Roderich says his brother's some sort of virtuoso, _good for him_, so he's bilingual, _isn't half the school_, he's an albino or something, _well done_, you _special little snowflake_, he's good at practically everything he tries, _what a hero_, so _fantastic_, so _wonderful_, _all hail Emil Stielsson_, he's such an _arrogant_ little shit, what the fuck does he think he's _doing_, for god's _sake_, I was only asking for a _pen_, how immature can you _get_, it's just so _ridiculous_-"

"Leon-kun, I hate to interrupt you, but you've been talking about the same boy for the past thirty minutes, and you're close to pacing a hole in the floor. Take a deep breath, and sit down."

He'd been talking about Emil for half an hour? "Sorry, Kiku..." Leon flopped down onto his brother's bed, sighing. "He's just so fucking _up himself!_ Seriously, what did I even _do_? I ask him if I did something wrong, and he tells me I'm an annoying idiot! And he doesn't even explain why! He just says that 'my presence suffices' or some other pretentious shit like that! He's so fucking precocious! _Fucking arsehole!_"

"Leon-kun..."

"And then there's the way he just glares at me all the time, what the fuck is even _with_ that? He just lowers those stupid pretentious glasses of his and sends me half the Arctic in a glance! He's not just got a stick up his arse, _oh no_, he's got the _whole of the New fucking Forest_ up there! I swear to _God_, he's like some sort of fucking _princess_, the way he acts, always sticking his fucking nose up at _everything_!"

"Leon-kun."

"I'm not even joking, he's fucking out of line! He's worse than that fucking slut who was flirting with me on my first day! You know what, _I fucking give up!_ Four entire lessons I've tried to be nice and shit to him, figuring he's probably just socially awkward or something, now he's going to get the _same fucking thing back!_"

"Leon-kun."

"He's a fucking _bitch_! No wonder he doesn't have any friends apart from his brother, he's an arrogant fucking _arsehole_! Even if he doesn't treat everyone like he treats me, he's still fucking _removing_ himself from the rest of the school! It's like we're not fucking good enough for him!"

"Leon-kun, did you know that when you are passionate about what you are saying, you stop saying 'like' all the time?"

"Even Lilli says that he 'could be a little nicer', and this is _Lilli_ we're talking about - wait, what was that, Kiku?"

"Ah, nothing. It's just that you seem to have stopped saying 'like' in between your words. Can I take it that you've stopped ranting now?"

"I guess..."

"Good. Now please, sit down. Your pacing cannot be good for the carpet."

Leon paused. Hadn't he been stretched out on Kiku's bed a second or two ago? When had he stood up? Was he that caught up in his ranting about Emil?

"Anyway, apart from this Emil person, how was your day, Leon-kun?" Kiku asked, patting the space next to him on his bed in an invitation for Leon to join him.

"Not too bad, I guess... You?"

"Okay, I think. By the way, do you know the name of the brother of this classmate of yours?"

"What, Emil? I think Elizaveta called him Lukas?"

"Ah," Kiku said, recognition flashing across his face, "in that case, I think I would happen to know the brother of this 'Emil'."

Leon's head snapped up to look at his older brother. "What? You know him? How? What's he like? Is he as much of a bitch as Emil? _Tell me, Kiku!_"

"Calm down, Leon-kun! He's in one of my classes, that's all. He doesn't seem as unkind as you are describing his brother to be, he keeps to himself a little, but he is okay to me..."

"Oh." _So it's just Emil, and it's just me. _"That's... Good, I guess."

"Leon-kun, perhaps you are just overreacting a little?" Kiku tried.

"Maybe, but I know for a fact he isn't this cold to everyone. I just want to give him a taste of what he gives me," Leon said defiantly.

Kiku sighed. He could see that this was not going to end well...

* * *

From the moment he stepped into Geography and received the usual scowl, it was on.

Emil had made it perfectly clear that the two were not to become friends. He had also made it perfectly clear that he did not want Leon as an acquaintance.

And Leon was not one to deliberately dissatisfy.

_This is war._

It seemed that Emil had sensed the change in mood from Leon also. (To be honest, it would be strange for him not to, taking into consideration the _severely pissed off _aura that Leon was emitting.) He dismissed Leon's attention with a disdainful glance and a condescending flick of the hand.

In return, Leon positioned his bag so that Emil would trip over it upon leaving his seat.

Much to his irritation, the Icelander barely stumbled - add 'impeccable balance' to the list of infuriatingly perfect things about him. He shot a dirty glare back at Leon, who simply shrugged and gave him a innocent smile, inwardly cursing him.

To retaliate, when Leon himself left his seat, Emil stuck his foot out for Leon to fall over.

Leon did _not_ have impeccable balance.

"Nice trip?" Emil asked sweetly, smirking.

"Ugh, fuck off, bitch," he said irritably, scowling. How exactly one person could be so infuriating, Leon had no idea - he was very close to strangling the other student.

Emil just gave him a smug sneer as he was reprimanded by the teacher for using 'vulgar language' in class.

* * *

"I ship it."

Leon's head turned to the speaker incredulously. "I'm sorry?"

"I ship it," Elizaveta repeated bluntly.

"Ship what?"

"You and Emil. We need a name for this! Er... Lemil? ...Leenil? Wanstiel? Ugh, no, we need something-"

"Wait," Leon said, shaking his head. "You ship _me_ and _Emil?_"

"...yeah? It's adorable!"

"_Me?_ And _him?_"

"Of course!"

"I tell you how he tripped me up and made a fool of me and you just like, tell me that you think we would be a good couple?"

Elizaveta beamed. "Mm-hmm! Now, back to the name... Lilli, do you have any ideas?"

Leon put a hand up to stop them before this ridiculousness got any further. "No. No, no, _no_. You do _not_ like, _ship_ Emil and me. And you _definitely_ do not involve anyone else."

"How about you combine their nationalities, since their names don't really work?"

"Oooh, good idea!" Eliza squealed. "So that would be Chinese and Icelandic, right? ChunIce? ChIce? Chand?"

"No! I refuse to let you do this! Lilli, stop encouraging her! Roderich, Raivis, back me up here? And besides, I'm from Hong Kong, you idiots!"

Lilli and Elizaveta looked at each other, their eyes shining. "_HongIce!_"

Leon facepalmed.

* * *

A/N

Hello. Did you miss me? Well, you're going to have to miss me again next week, I'm afraid, as once again I am going to be away. Sorry about that. Hope this was somewhat acceptable. Leon's way of speaking, by the way, is heavily based on that of one a couple of my friends, who I was on the exchange with. They're so stereotypically English sometimes, it's hilarious. Though apparently I have a 'classic English accent', according to another of the kids on that trip.

Anyway.

For those of you who don't know, the New Forest is a forest here in England. Known for its ponies and ice cream. The villages can only be described as 'quaint', if you ask me. I don't particularly like it, I must admit. Then again, I don't really like England. Not mountainous enough for me.

So. Thank you very much for your reviews, which I am about to reply to. I'm sorry, this week has been so weird and disjointed... Would it be rude to ask for more reviews? Please? S'il vous plait?

See you in a couple of weeks!

To Faenil: Thank you! I agree, blushing Icey may be cute but it's kind of overdone. Hence my attempt to explore different sides to his somewhat complex character. Thank you again, your kind words remind me to get off my lazy, tumblr-obsessed arse and write some more!


	5. Chapter 5: I'm Observant When I Want

wtf happened when I tried to post this a minute ago?!

sorry

oh yeah i don't own Hetalia, just the plotline etc

sorry about that

i'm one of those people who can't draw for shit so I could never be a manga artist

hey anyone seen babysitting? Probably not, I saw it in France sooooo

but I love Franck so much

wish that kind of shit actually happened

I want that film on dvd

enough ramblings!

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites**

**Chapter Five: I'm Observant When I Want To Be**

* * *

Another day, another opportunity to attempt to humiliate Emil.

This time, Leon had brought with him a packet of gum.

No prizes for guessing what he was going to be doing with that.

As the white-blonde turned his attention away from Leon to his work, Leon feigned dropping his pen. Leaning down to pick it up, he placed a wad of freshly-chewed gum precisely under Emil's heel, in the hope that the other would place their foot right on it and find themselves in a somewhat sticky situation.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Emil shuffled his feet a little, coming within millimetres of his little trap.

It was painful to see how close it came.

But still, he kept an eye on it. By all laws of probability, it should work.

So close - so close - just a little back - an inch to the left - _there_ - no-

The bell rang.

_Damn_.

But he could still try again as Emil walked out-

Leon watched as the Icelandic teenager rose from his chair in a manner that could only be described as precocious, gave Leon a satisfied smirk and shouldered his bag, sauntering out of the classroom as the group was dismissed.

He'd known of Leon's plan all along.

_The little bitch!_

* * *

With the amount of time Leon had spent plotting revenge on Emil, he had ended up neglecting some of his other duties. Ones that he didn't find to be particularly important - especially when there were plentiful alternative ways of spending his time. Namely, the wonderful, fantastical thing we call the internet.

These neglected duties also happen to be the bane of almost every teenager's existence: the terrible, _terrible_ invention of _homework_.

"Tino Väinämöinen?"

"Present, done the homework."

"Leon Wang?"

"Present, not done the homework," he said casually, propping his head up with his hand as he leaned on one of the paint-splattered desks in the Art department.

"I'll speak to you in a minute," the teacher said in a sort of worrying tone of voice, and carried on listing names. The blonde-haired boy sitting next to him - Tino, apparently - gave him a sympathetic look.

In hindsight, perhaps it would have been a good idea to actually do this Art homework - instead, he spent pleasurable hours scrolling through his dashboard on Tumblr. He regretted nothing; he may be in for a detention, but he now had a grand total of 1187 followers, and in his opinion, that was completely worth it.

...as mentioned before, Leon wasn't the most dedicated of students. His grades weren't perfect, but they weren't awful either, and that was good enough for him.

As the class resumed their work from their previous lesson, the teacher - a Mr. Pearson - came over to Leon's desk. In his head, Leon was singing the theme tune from _Jaws_.

"Leon," Mr. Pearson began. "Have you a reason for not having your homework?"

"Sorry, sir. I forgot," Leon lied. He knew it was pretty obvious, and it wouldn't get him out of anything, but to be honest, it was safer than just saying 'I didn't feel like it'.

"Well, you aren't going to forget to come to detention after school today, are you?"

Leon sighed. "No, sir."

"Good. Now get on with your work." Mr. Pearson gave Leon a stony look and returned to his desk.

Leon let out a long sigh. Detention. _Great._

* * *

When the end of the day rolled around, having told his brother during their lunch break that he would be late home ("Leon-kun, you know that if Mother or Yao finds out, they will be angry..." "And that's why you're not going to tell them. Just, like, say I'm at a club or something." "Leon-kun..." "No, don't 'Leon-kun' me, Kiku. Please? If you don't, I might have to like, tell Mei that you have a crush on that Greek guy who works at the museum." "...isn't that blackmail, Leon-kun?" "Your point?"), Leon glumly located the classroom of his detention.

Throwing his bag on the floor and his blazer on a chair, he slumped down at a desk, waiting for the teacher. Glancing around him to see if anyone was watching, he discreetly pulled out his phone to indulge in the wonders of the internet and headphones.

"You know, if and when he comes and sees you on your phone, you'll earn yourself about a month of detentions."

The voice was crisp, clear and distinctly accented. It was also one of the most annoying things Leon had ever heard.

He looked up to see a certain white-haired student seated not far away from him, sketching something with a sharp pencil. The sound of the implement on the paper of the sketchbook made Leon wonder how he hadn't noted Emil's presence before.

"Just like, save it for someone who cares, why don't you? How long have you been there?"

"Since before you arrived. You're quite unobservant, aren't you?" Emil didn't bother to look up at Leon when replying.

Leon scowled. "I'm observant when I want to be. Wouldn't have thought you'd be like, the kind of person to get a detention, though."

"Funny. I'd always thought you were. But I'm not, actually. I'm simply waiting for a lift home."

"Can't go home by yourself?" Leon mocked.

"I live several miles away from the school and can't drive, would you be able to?"

_Fair point._ "Whatever."

A silence fell over the classroom, broken only by the scratching of Emil's pencil against paper and the tapping of Leon's fingers against the screen of his smartphone.

After a while, Leon was beginning to get rather bored.

"So like, where is this teacher?"

Emil shrugged, still not bothering to look up from his sketch. "How am I supposed to know?"

Leon sighed, then slid his phone into his blazer, pausing his music yet letting the headphone cord trail and stood up. "I'm going to see if he's like, somewhere near us," he announced.

Emil finally looked up from his work, purely to raise an eyebrow at Leon. "Have fun with that," he said, in a tone that implied that he was hoping for the opposite.

Leon strode over to the door and gave it a tug.

And then another tug.

Several tugs later, he stepped away from the door.

"...shit."

Emil looked over at him, the confusion in his eyes contradicting the condescending and disdainful manner in which he looked down at Leon.

"We've been locked in."

* * *

**A/N**

**I am so sorry I didn't update last week**

really

i had exams, forgive me? I still have exams...just...not gcses

thank god

i will die next year

when all summer exams are gcses

...wish me luck

Anyone who gets why Mr Pearson is called that gets my love

you'll probably have to be British though

and look at a revision guide or exam paper XD

also

FINALLY WE GET TO A MAIN PLOT POINT

so yeah

this is what I was planning since the beginning

only me and vita knew about this

vita has probably forgotten

if she reads this she should know that she is awesome but that my writing is shitty

sooooo... Surprised at it? did you see that coming? I hope not XD

next chapter is a long-ass thing that I have yet to complete

I wish I had 1000+ followers

meh over 100 crazy people clicked follow XD

see you next week, review? ;D

oh wait speaking of

* * *

**Le scorpion** : Ahhhhhhh merde mon français est terrible, je suis désolé  
j'essayerai parler français, excusez-moi, mais merci je dois pratiquer (l'échange me enseigné que je peux dire rien en français)  
C'est correct, c'était Fire and Ice ! merci beaucoup, j'aime bien une courageux Islande ! XD Et je suis d'accord, hong-kong est plus qu'un 'karate kid' ! (comme le film, ignorez-moi) alors, merci merci merci ! Je suis si heureuse :D


	6. Chapter 6: You're Still A Bitch

Guess who still doesn't own Hetalia?! Also, I don't own any of the other stuff mentioned here.

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites **

**Chapter Six: You're Still A Bitch**

* * *

Emil stared at him. "...you're joking."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like it?"

"No. No, no, no. No! I refuse to accept that I am locked in a classroom with you of all people. Let me have a look at that." He rose from his seat, approaching Leon.

Removing his glasses, Emil tried tugging on the door himself. When this didn't result in anything, he tried fiddling with the handle, and then the lock, until-

"You're right. We are, indeed locked in."

Until he drew the same conclusion as Leon.

The two teenagers stood and stared at each other for a minute.

Then, Emil sighed and retrieved his own phone from his bag, loosening his tie and putting his glasses back on. "I'm calling my brother."

Leon nodded and sat back down at his desk. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know how they had managed to get locked into a room together - he supposed it could have been a cleaner or someone along those lines mistaking the room as empty, but that didn't explain the absence of his Art teacher.

He listened idly to the one side of Emil's conversation that he could hear, still a little shell-shocked.

"No, we've just been locked in...I know...I have no idea how it happened...No, I'll be fine, I think, but could you perhaps-?...Right, forgot about that...No, don't come, you have an exam soon, right? Keep practicing...No, it's fine, Lukas...Really...Please don't do that...Okay, if you've only got twenty minutes left..._Yes_, I can wait that long...No! _Please!_ Please don't send Matthias!...Okay...No, I'm not going to pick the lock, I'm not some kind of scout, do you mind?...The person with me?...No, he doesn't seem like the scouting kind either...What? Oh, he's just another student...No, I don't really know him...No, he's not my friend - _far from it_...What? I didn't say anything!...Okay, go back to your practice..._No_, I'm not going to call you 'Big Brother'! _Goodbye_, Lukas!" It was with some force, it seemed, that Emil ended the call and sat back down at his own desk, having been pacing a little impatiently about the tables.

"'Big Brother'?" Leon enquired, amused.

"Shut up," Emil said, clearly a little ruffled for once.

"Why don't you like, make me?" He challenged, smirking.

"Why don't you like, learn how to speak?" Emil imitated.

"Yeah? At least I don't have a really weird accent!"

"At least _I_ can speak more than one language."

"Hey, my Cantonese is pretty good!"

"Ah, but undoubtedly spoken with a 'really weird accent', as you put it."

"Well, at least I don't look down on everyone else for not being as wonderful as me!"

"Neither do I."

"Oh, yeah? What have you been doing ever since I first met you, then?"

"Treating you like the idiot you are."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Oh, I apologise! You're not just an idiot, you're also rude, untidy, childish, slovenly - need I carry on?"

"Like you can talk! Can I just remind you how fucking rude you were to me when I first met you? And ever fucking since? And childish? When I asked you if I could borrow a pen, it was like I'd asked to strip in front of the class or some other messed up shit!"

"You tried to stick chewing gum to my shoe. I don't think you can _get_ much more childish than that."

"And you fucking tripped me!"

"Because you tried to trip me up first."

"Because you were being a little bitch!"

"I resent that."

"It's true!"

"As I said, I was simply treating you as I saw fit."

"See? You're being a total bitch again!"

"And again, I resent that."

"Yeah? _I fucking resent you!_"

"That's nice," Emil said, simply turning away from the now angered Leon.

After that, a slightly awkward silence fell over the two.

Or at least, it was awkward for Leon. Emil just sighed, adjusted his glasses once more and started rummaging in his bag again, pulling out some neatly wound-up headphones and the phone he had put away minutes before. For lack of better entertainment, Leon watched as he fiddled with the phone and headphones. Once satisfied, he stuffed one headphone in his ear and leaned back in his chair a little, suddenly looking a lot less haughty and cold. Leon unpaused his own music, copying Emil's action of reclining a little.

"What're you listening to?" Leon asked casually, mildly interested for one reason or another. The white-blonde head snapped up at the question, almost nervous in its speed.

"Coldplay," Emil replied, tone still holding an icy edge despite the briefness of his words.

"Oh, yeah?" Leon said, the interest in his voice growing. "So you like alternative?"

"I do," he replied shortly.

"Who's your favourite group?"

"Of Monsters and Men." A small, slightly mischievous smile flashed across his face. "Icelandic."

Leon grinned. "Naturally."

"You?" Emil asked, once again coolly.

"My favourite or what I'm listening to?"

"Both."

"My favourite band is Suede, but I'm listening to the Attack on Titan soundtrack," Leon replied casually.

"...'Suede'? What kind of music do they play?"

Leon stared at Emil in horror. "You like alternative, yet you don't know who Suede are?! They're like, one of the classics - come here, I'll play you some of their music-" Leon broke off as he fumbled for his other earphone and changed the song on his phone. "Here," he said, scrambling towards Emil and holding it out to the other student.

Emil hesitated for a second before taking it, shooting him a somewhat suspicious look. He was silent for a few seconds while he listened, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Not bad," he said, a hint of surprise in his tone. "I'm pleasantly surprised."

Leon grinned, sinking into the seat next to the Icelander. "They're amazing! Real British music - MCR and Paramore and that are great and stuff, but no one can beat us British at rock!"

"I thought you were from China?" Emil questioned, tone holding a note of interest.

"Hong Kong, not China! But half and half," he replied, tapping his foot along with the music. "Chinese mother, English father, but I was born in Hong Kong."

"Oh," Emil said. "I'm completely Icelandic, but my brother is half Norwegian and half Icelandic. We have different fathers... You have siblings, right? Are they half Chinese as well?"

"Nah," Leon said with a grin, "we're all different. The oldest is my brother, Yao, who is completely Chinese, then Kiku, whose father is Japanese, then Lien, who has the same father as Kiku but her mother is Vietnamese, then Kasem has the same mother as Lien but his father is Thai, then me, and then Mei, who has the same mother as Yao, Kiku and I but whose father is Taiwanese, then Yong Soo, whose father's Korean - South Korean, that is - and then there're my uncles and cousins and stuff."

"'Uncles and cousins and stuff'?" Emil repeated, looking a little overwhelmed with the mass of information. "Your family is so confusing..."

"Tell me about it! I have an English uncle, who has a French husband, and they've adopted twins who are American and Canadian. I have an Indian cousin somewhere, also an Australian cousin, the twins have a Mexican cousin and a bunch of relatives in South America... The others' parents are dotted around Asia, most of them too busy working to visit more than a few times a year..." Leon sighed. "I have no idea what a normal family is like. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a calm household... I'm not actually sure I'd like it, though. I'm so used to constantly having my siblings either being hyper all the time and jumping around the house or knowing that they're locked away in their rooms, being the antisocial dorks they are... I think it would be too quiet for me."

"You've stopped saying 'like' all the time," Emil observed, to a somewhat startled glance from Leon. He carried on regardless of Leon's expression, a thoughtful look crossing his features. "I think I know what you mean. My family is nowhere near as - erm - original, shall we say, as yours, but it's still pretty strange. Lukas' father lives in England as well, but in the capital. If it weren't for the fact that Lukas hates cities, he would live with him. As it is, he's always trying to get him to move out there, but Lukas doesn't want to leave. Our mother and my father don't want him to leave, either. I don't want him to go and live in London. He's a pain in the neck, but he's still my brother." He paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "We only moved here a few years ago, and most of our family are either in Iceland or Norway. I'm like the opposite of you - I couldn't imagine a loud household. My brother and I generally keep to ourselves, and our parents are almost always working. It's kind of a shock to the system at Christmas when we visit the rest of the family. It's only really loud in the house when Lukas has his idiot of a boyfriend over. I couldn't live in a constantly noisy household, I don't think."

"We are kind of opposites, actually," Leon said wistfully. "Hey," he said suddenly, "you've stopped being a little bitch!"

Emil glared at him. "Or rather, you've started a somewhat intelligent conversation to which I can relate for once, rather than constantly being an immature idiot."

"Ah-ah," Leon reprimanded him, shaking a finger in his face, "you're doing it again. Go away, Bitchy Emil, no one wants you here. We want Nice Emil back."

"Get your finger out of my face, idiot," Emil said irritably, and then sighed. "You're not as bad as I thought you were. There is intelligence somewhere inside that thick skull of yours. You're still an idiot, though."

"Aww, how sweet of you Emil!" Leon cooed, grinning. "You're not half bad yourself, surprisingly."

Emil raised an eyebrow. "'Surprisingly'?"

"Well, your previous haughty and bitchy attitude did well to hide this cutie I'm seeing now."

The other eyebrow was raised. "'Cutie'?"

"Hey, you can't get annoyed when I insult you and then get annoyed when I compliment you! Pick one and stick with it!"

"I was right, you really have stopped saying 'like' all the time. It's a refreshing change, you sound considerably less moronic."

"I take back what I said, you're still a bitch."

"Ah, but you know it's true," Emil said, a hint of humour creeping into his tone.

"That you're a bitch? Yep," Leon replied, folding his arms stubbornly.

"And you haven't restarted, either. Is it a nervous thing? Do I make you nervous, Leon?" Emil teased.

"Shut up, Stielsson."

"Make me."

"This is such a change from the precocious princess you were before. Are you sure it's me who's nervous? You sure it's not you who's intimidated by me?"

At that, Emil tensed. _Ah_, Leon thought to himself. _There's my answer._ "I'm... Not... Intimidated by you..."

"No?" Leon pressed. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm pretty amazing, and I know that can get a little intimidating for lesser beings. Especially socially awkward ones like you."

"I'm not socially awkward! Just..." Emil trailed off, looking down. "I don't know how to put it. I just prefer to be on my own. I don't like talking, especially with the people in our classes. When I came to the school in Year Seven, my English wasn't very good, and I couldn't work up the confidence to try to make friends. It was embarrassing to speak to others, and when I did, it felt like they were judging me all the time. A lot of them were speaking their second language already, so why couldn't I? And I suppose didn't help that I stand out wherever I am, bad English or not, with my less-than-common appearance. It doesn't bother me now, my English is indescribably better than it was then, but it still feels like making friends is too much of an effort. I mean, I have a few, but I've got so used to being on my own that I suppose I prefer it, in a way. I still keep in touch with my friends back in Iceland, but it's not the same... I suppose that's partly why my first impression of you was a boisterous idiot, you really need to learn the meaning of a peaceful silence."

"Hey, you need to meet my cousin. Or my brother. They have no idea what a peaceful silence is, I just prefer to break it," Leon grinned, but then his face fell into a more sombre expression. "But no, seriously, your English is great. Sorry if I offended you earlier and shit. You should make more friends, though - okay, so some of them're arseholes, I've only been here a few weeks and I can tell that already, but there're some cool people here too. It's better than my old school - they'd tease anyone who got grades above a C there, and anyone who could say anything in a language other than slang English was immediately a target. I was kind of a loner there, I guess. Unless someone had forgotten to do their homework, in which case I was their old best friend. I didn't really mind it then, but having friends here is cool, y'know? I have people I can rely on for shit. Ones who don't live in a different country and I haven't met online."

"You? A loner?" Emil looked at him disbelievingly. "Somehow, I can't imagine that."

"No, really! I was! I think it was the Asian thing, you know? They all thought I was a geek because I read manga and shit. Probably didn't help that I didn't live in Hollister t-shirts and Superdry hoodies. I just seemed to attract snide comments, so I separated myself from the rest of them in hope of not provoking them. I think they were just jealous of my originality. I mean, I was the only one who ever wore a band shirt for a band they actually followed to school. The others wore these Pink Floyd t-shirts that they picked up from H+M and whatever, but I don't think a single one of them would know what I mean by The Wall."

"Oh, you didn't wear uniform? I suppose that wouldn't have helped. But to be honest, the fact that you read manga just tells me you're an idiot who can't be bothered to read a proper book."

"Hey! Don't judge something before you try it! I do read 'proper' books, but I prefer manga. Like, whenever I go into Waterstones for whatever reason, all the teen stuff is either too pathetically girly or just plain weird. I only really go in there for the manga."

"Don't go to the teen section, then. There are plenty of other options. I myself prefer the crime novels. Not the pointless, flowery things that have been made into drama series for middle-aged women, but the real stories, with proper plot lines. My brother reads mainly biographies, though. And his boyfriend reads anything Danish. Next time you go into a bookshop, don't go to the teen section. Just pick a random book that you think looks good."

Leon grinned. "Sure. If you read a manga."

"What? _No!_ There's better reading content in Matthias' car magazines." Emil looked disgusted at the thought, which made Leon's smile widen.

"That's a little hypocritical of you, isn't it? If I buy a book and read it, you buy a manga and read it. You know where the manga is in Waterstones, right? It's actually just a couple of metres away from the crime novels - there's a shelf of biographies in between." Leon smirked, enjoying the pained look on the other's face.

"I-" Emil stopped and sighed. "Alright. I'll read a manga." He wrinkled his nose at the idea and at Leon's wide grin. "Stop looking so smug. You have to keep your side of the deal, too."

"I know," Leon said happily, "but it's not like I've never read a book before. You, on the other hand, have just reached a new level of nerd. Congratulations!"

"Oh, shut up," Emil said, wrinkling his nose again. "This doesn't mean anything, okay? I'm only doing it in the hope that you might actually begin to appreciate some proper literature."

"You know..." Leon said, grin still firmly in place, "you sound like you're talking about a date or something. It's just a manga, Emil - you're not signing yourself up for a relationship or anything."

"I'm aware of that, thank you, and I'm pretty sure I told you to shut up. I take back what I said before, you're just as bad as I thought."

"Oh, yeah? But you're still talking to me," Leon smirked.

"I don't know why."

"You find me interesting, right? I can't blame you, I'm an interesting person. I find me interesting."

"I find you arrogant."

"I'm pretty sure you mean amazing."

"I'm pretty sure I _don't_."

"Yeah, you do. I'm amazing. Really. I mean, what about me isn't amazing? Huh? Nothing? Exactly. But really, you'll learn to love manga. Mark my words, you'll be coming back to me saying, 'Oh Leon, you were rright, I do lovfff manga, how did you guess, you amasing and sexy thing, you?! Gifft to me more off this wonderful stuff!' And then I'll lend you my manga, and then Kiku's manga, and then I'll steal Yong Soo's manga and you can borrow that and if we're lucky I'll get my hands on whatever Yao left behind when he went off to uni. It'll happen, you'll see."

"Was that supposed to be an imitation of my accent?" Emil asked haughtily, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Because it was pathetic. And it won't happen. I can assure you, it will not happen."

"What are you talking about, it was a fine imitasssion!" Leon exclaimed, still imitating Emil. "But it will happen. I got my cousins into it. Although I think on Alfred's part it may have partly been due to him wanting to get to know Kiku, if you know what I mean. Though they're technically related. I mean, he's the adopted son of the brother of my father, who is kind of like Kiku's stepfather."

"It was a terrible impression, and you know it. Apart from anything else, I don't sound anywhere near as pretentious as that - and no one but an Icelander can do an Icelandic accent. Believe me, my brother has tried," Emil smirked a little at the memory, and then straightened his expression. "But no, it's not going to happen. And I really don't think that counts as relations."

"Your brother sounds cool," Leon remarked absently, ignoring most of Emil's reply.

"He's not," came the immediate reply. "He's overprotective and a pain in the neck."

"Aw, c'mon. All older siblings are overprotective and a pain in the neck. Well. A lot of them, anyway."

"Sure, a lot of them are. But Lukas takes it to an extreme. It's like he thinks he's my father or something, I swear - although, speaking of, he should be here by now. Where is he?" Emil checked the time on his phone, forehead creased in annoyance. "I have work to do, I don't want to be stuck here all evening."

"Work?" Leon questioned. "It's Friday. What teenager does work on a Friday evening? What could you possibly be working on? Or are you one of those weird kids who's gone and got themselves a part-time job already?"

"You shouldn't mock part-time jobs, you know. Some of us actually care about our CVs, believe it or not," Emil reprimanded. "But no, I only work on a Saturday. I want to complete my homework so that I can spend the weekend studying."

Leon stared at him, mouth hanging open. "You're joking, right? You spend your weekend studying? Do you even fucking need to?"

Emil made an irritated little 'hmph!' noise, raising his noise into the air slightly. "I'll have you know that in order to achieve the marks I want, studying is absolutely essential. I want a perfect set of results, and I refuse to let anything mar that. Especially my weakest subject."

"And what's that?"

"English."

Leon burst out laughing. "What the actual fuck, Emil?! You've only been speaking English for what, five years? And you're expecting to get a perfect mark in analysing it and other shit? God, do you even _exist_?"

"_If_ you don't mind, I do. And I've been speaking it for five years, but we start learning English at an early age in Iceland. My French and Spanish also need work."

"I wonder why? Did you even learn French in Iceland? And if I only started Spanish two years ago, it's got to be the same for you, right? Learning how to speak a different language in your first language is hard, but in your second language? What the actual hell? You ever wonder if you have overly high expectations, Emil?" Leon wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, unable to quell his laughter. "God, most of the people here don't give a damn about MFLs, either because they're overly British or because they speak another language fluently anyway. You're something, Emil. You're really something."

Emil glared at him. "Is the fact that I care about my grades really so hilarious to you?"

"...in a word? Yes."

"Well, I suppose we'll see who's laughing when we get our GCSE results in the summer, won't we?"

"Sure, Emil. Sure," Leon snickered.

Emil gave an irritated sigh. "You know, you were actually being half-decent earlier. But now, you've reverted to the immature idiot I met and disliked."

"And you've reverted to Bitchy Emil, so it's all good!"

Emil closed his eyes in exasperation. "Where is my brother? I need to get _away_ from you."

"Aw, Emil. You know you love me really. Or at least, you love my music."

"This is quite good," Emil admitted, eyes flicking open again to glance at his phone. "But where is Lukas? He said he'd be twenty minutes. It's been three-quarters of an hour."

"Call him?" Leon suggested. "He's the violinist, right? Maybe his practice overran?"

Emil shook his head. "He never overruns. His teacher is punctual to an almost obsessive point. I could call him again, I suppose." He fiddled with his phone for a second before holding it to his ear. "...Lukas? Is that you?" He paused for a second, then flinched visibly. "Ah. Matthias. Where's my brother?" Leon looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Emil gave him a bored look, rolling his eyes. "Still? Really? He doesn't usually overrun like this...Right. But why have you got his phone?...Oh, really? I'm surprised...No, I didn't say anything. Did he tell you his passcode, then?...He changed it before he gave it to you? Seriously? Typical...So, five minutes at the most? Right?...Can you try not to be late?...Okay, whatever. Bye."

Emil glared at Leon as he gave him a questioning look. "My brother's boyfriend. Just don't ask, okay?"

"He sounds pretty awesome to me," Leon said.

"He's not," Emil said shortly. "He has no respect for personal space, and he's just a complete and utter idiot. I have no idea what Lukas sees in him, but I certainly don't see it myself."

"So..." Leon said, twirling his headphones around one finger thoughtfully, "you don't like your brother, you don't like your brother's boyfriend, you don't like me... Is there anyone you do like?"

"Sure," Emil replied. "Anyone who comes to get me out of here is someone I like."

Leon grinned. "Not many people, then. Something's telling me we're going to be here for a while."

"Don't say that," Emil says, wrinkling his nose. "I'm sure Lukas will be here soon."

"Yeah..." Leon said, dragging the sound out. "But how's he going to get in? The door's locked."

"The key might be in the lock. Otherwise, he'll think of something... I hope..."

"You don't sound too sure about that."

"...shut up, Leon," Emil said, pushing his glasses up his nose haughtily. Leon grinned at the action, giving a self-satisfied snicker.

"So you admit it-" Leon broke off as Emil held up his hand, pulling the headphone out and jumping up. He moved swiftly over to the door and stopped, apparently listening intently.

"-and if you'd just _told_ me that he'd called again, it wouldn't have taken us ten minutes to get here!"

"I'm sorry Luke, really, but you know that's not what he wanted! He'd have preferred you to practice rather than cut it short!"

"I don't care, my younger brother is my responsibility and I will not have him just be left alone when I could be there, taking him home!"

"He's sixteen, Lukas, he's fine! When we were sixteen we were out 'til dawn partying!"

"No, _you_ were. I value my education, so the only time I was out until dawn was after my exams and- _oh, forget it_, the point is, how am I meant to _unlock this fucking door?!_"

The last words were accompanied by a _thud_ as a fist hit the other side of the door.

* * *

A/N

Long chapter is long, shitty dialogue is shitty and crappy ending is crappy. Also, apologetic author is apologetic. Sorry. Main plot point alert again. Characters are serious in this chapter, too! Sorry about that. The Icelandic accent imitation was difficult to write, and I hope I have insulted anyone with it... It's meant to be way out, considering Leon is English in this, and we (or at least, I) can't pronounce Icelandic words with any kind of ease... Yeah... Also, the language insecurity thing is actually something I'm always terrified of... Not that I don't speak my first language about 90% of the time, but that will change, and I'm really scared about my accent being too strong and just messing up in general... Like I did in France. Seriously, my correspondent and her family's English was brilliant, and I felt like I should be able to speak French like they could English and I just felt like a huge burden on them for most of the week. Anyway! Sorry. Enough of my depressingness. I have a headcannon that Icey would have an adorable puffin phone case... And Leon would have the Attack on Titan one I have my eyes on. God, this author's note is long. I'm going to shut up now and annoy my irl friends with my weird snaps. Do you reckon Leon would have snapchat? Or would it be too mainstream for him? Emil wouldn't, I don't think... Unless, like my friend, he just used it with his family and about two friends (his would be his Icelandic friends). I MUST SHUT UP. Bye. Thank you for being fantastic readers! Your reviews really make me happy, even if it takes me like a week to reply (sorry about that). Would it be greedy to ask for more...? ¡Hasta luego!


	7. Chapter 7: The Karate Kid

Guess what I own? Too much work. Guess what I don't own? Hetalia.

* * *

**Attraction of Opposites**

**Chapter Seven: The Karate Kid**

* * *

Emil gave a somewhat long-suffering sigh and sat down on a desk near the door, running a hand through his hair as he did so. "Lukas?" He called, ignoring Leon's confused expression as the brown-haired student tucked away his phone and headphones.

The conversation that had restarted after the initial thud stopped abruptly, and everything suddenly became very quiet. "Emil?" The first voice said. "Is that you? Are you okay? What happened? How do I unlock the door?"

Emil ignored most of the questions, answering only the last. "If the key isn't in the lock, I guess you'll have to pick it. Matthias knows how to do that, right?"

"Fuck yeah!" The second voice declared proudly. "Learnt to do it so I could steal Ber's porn without him realising! Didn't think it'd come in handy now, though! _Wait_ - I don't have a hairpin!"

"A _hairpin_?" The first voice - Lukas, Emil's brother, apparently - repeated in disbelief. "Are you _serious_? What are you, a girl guide?"

"No, but I would have looked pretty good in one of those uniforms, don'cha think? Huh? Huh- ow!"

"Idiot. And you're not using my hair clip, either."

Leon hesitated, unsure of what to do. If they could get out of there, it would be great, but admitting it would be so _embarrassing_...

_Swallow your pride, Leon, you want to go home, _he told himself. "I... Could help," he started. Emil's head snapped round to stare him incredulously.

"You have a hairpin on you?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Y-yeah... I kinda have to like, keep my hair out of my face in exams a-and stuff..."

"Never mind the reason, there's a gap under the door, could you slide it under?" Lukas asked, urgency lacing his tone.

Leon nodded, forgetting the sixth former couldn't see him. He retrieved the object from his blazer pocket, a very light blush dusting his cheeks. Ignoring the smirk Emil was directing at him, he passed it under the door to the couple behind it.

"Thanks," came the reply. A few minutes of fiddling on the other side of the door, and it swung open to reveal two tall blondes, one grinning proudly and the other giving him a disinterested glare.

"Emil," the shorter one said in a relieved tone of voice, stepping forwards to place a hand on the Icelander's shoulder. Emil shrugged him off, scowling.

"I'm not a little kid, Lukas," he muttered. His brother appeared to either miss or ignore his statement, ruffling his hair and beginning to shoot questions at him.

Meanwhile, the tallest blonde had not stopped staring at Leon. "Hey," he began eloquently. "Do I know you?"

Emil's attention was drawn immediately to Leon as he grinned back at Matthias. "Sure. You're like, a friend of Alfred's, right? I'm his cousin."

Matthias' face lit up in comprehension, his grin widening. "Oh, yeah! You're Leon, right? The karate kid?"

"Yeah, that's his nickname for me. I don't do martial arts anymore, though."

Emil stared at Leon. "Why didn't you tell me you knew Matthias?"

Leon shrugged. "I wasn't entirely sure it was him, Alfred has loads of friends. Also, it was funny hearing your description of him."

Emil glared at Leon. "Oh, very funny..."

"Yeah, it was," he grinned back.

Emil sighed, turning away from Leon. "Lukas, can we please _leave_? I have work to do."

The taller blonde nodded and grabbed Emil's bag, throwing it over his shoulder, ignoring Emil's protests. "Sure. Come, Matthias."

The Dane followed Lukas eagerly, reminding Leon of a loyal dog. As Emil was leaving, he paused in front of Leon.

"Can we, you know, not tell anyone about this?" He asked in an undertone, using the protection of Matthias' distraction as a cover.

"Sure," Leon agreed. _Like I'd want people to know I managed to get myself locked in classroom and had to sacrifice a hair slide to get out._

"That means we have to pretend it never happened. We'll go back to how we were before," Emil said, voice still low but tone urgent.

_He wants us to go back to hating each other? _"I...guess."

"Okay. Great." Emil's tone retuned to normal, and he nodded curtly to the other student by way of farewell, hurrying after his brother et al.

_Back to square one, then, I guess._

* * *

"How was detention, Leon?" Kiku asked him as soon as he stepped through the door.

"Keep your voice down," he hissed. "Someone might be around!"

"No one is around, Leon, the others all have things to do on a Friday night. Well, I think Kasem is in his room..."

Leon breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. I kinda have a lot to say..." He threw his schoolbag down onto the floor and his blazer on top, walking into their kitchen with Kiku following close behind. Perching on the polished granite counter, Leon began to explain the evening's events.

With little interruption from his brother, Leon's story unfolded itself until Kiku's mahogany eyes were wide with amazement.

"And then he asked me if we can go back to how we were before and just, like, pretend nothing happened."

"What, go back to hating each other? What did you say?"

"I said yeah, obviously. I don't want anyone to know I got myself locked in a classroom when I was meant to have a detention."

Kiku looked at him disapprovingly. "Leon-kun."

Leon fidgeted a little under his brother's intense stare. "You don't need to refer to me as Leon-kun, Kiku, I'm your brother. I mean, it's kind of formal. You know? I'm like, one hundred percent fine with you dropping the-"

"Leon-kun."

"Yeah, okay." Leon sighed. _He knows me too well, damn it. _"I'm a little disappointed that we're just going back to hating each other." He held two fingers apart to emphasise his point. "But it's not like it's anything more than that. Sure, he seemed like a half-decent person when he dropped the whole bitchy arrogance thing, but he's still pretentious. Actually, he was still arrogant... But in a less annoying way... But seriously, it's nothing more than that. I don't really care."

Kiku gave him a disbelieving look, grabbing the two of them drinks. "Of course it isn't..."

"It isn't! Thanks, by the way," he said sipping the can of Coke and wrinkling his nose a little as he realised it was of the sugar-free variety. "Honestly. I'm just a little disappointed that I spent an hour locked in a classroom with absolutely nothing to show for it, except for a destroyed hair slide."

"I thought you didn't _want_ anything to show for it."

"No, I don't. So it's all fine."

"Of course, Leon-kun."

* * *

He meant what he said.

He wasn't aspiring to be friends with Emil. Emil Stielsson was an arrogant, pretentious bastard who had the ability to be a nice person but chose not to use said ability.

They had been enemies, and then they were more like acquaintances for about an hour, and now they were enemies once again. Leon didn't have any kind of a problem with that.

No problem at all.

(_It wouldn't hurt to just say hi, right?_)

Nope, no problem at all.

Anyway, they wouldn't see each other until the next Monday. Plenty of time to think the whole situation over. Not that there was much thinking to do, because it wasn't really a 'situation', and Leon didn't have a problem with it.

(_I wonder if Emil has a Facebook..._)

* * *

**[17] pending friend requests.**

There are drawbacks to not going on Facebook for large periods of time.

Especially after joining a new school, Leon found. He didn't think twice before accepting all of them, then searching Emil's name. A few results showed up, but only one could possibly have been his classmate - Emil was younger and not wearing glasses, but it was undoubtedly him. Shooting the camera a dull look, this younger Emil looked every bit as arrogant and annoying as the Leon found the present, the only difference being slightly less defined facial features and, of course, the glasses.

Leon clicked on it, trying to find more information about the other student. (It wasn't stalking, he decided. Simply taking the initiative to get to know his classmate better.) There was little new information to be found, aside from his hometown (Reykjavik, Iceland), a few profile picture and cover photo changes and his current cover photo, which featured Emil, Lukas and a tall, blonde woman that Leon supposed was their mother leaning against the the glass railings of a tall building, with a panoramic view of some city in the background. They didn't seem to have any mutual friends, but this was unsurprising - Leon only had seventeen friends from his new school on Facebook. Clicking on Emil's friends list, he found that all his friends but his brother and a couple of people whose names Leon vaguely recognised were Icelandic.

Deciding it was time to change that, Leon went directly against his better judgement.

**Friend request sent.**

* * *

A/N

I am so sorry that this sucks so much.

I genuinely have not had any time due to schoolwork. Honestly, if this is Year 10, I dread Year 11. Let's all just feel sorry for Emil, Leon and their friends, okay? They are in Year 11. It sounds horrible. Also, if anyone isn't sure about the British school system I'm using here, it is as follows:

Nursery: Age 3/4

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Age 4/5: Reception

5/6: Year 1

6/7: Year 2

7/8: Year 3

8/9: Year 4

9/10: Year 5

10/11: Year 6

SECONDARY SCHOOL

11/12: Year 7

12/13: Year 8

13/14: Year 9

14/15: Year 10

15/16: Year 11 - this is when we take our GCSEs, which are qualifications that we basically need to get a job and do anything. They also affect which subjects we take if we go into the 6th Form.

After this, we can continue in school at Sixth Form, which has two years: Year 12 and Year 13. Otherwise, we can do stuff like an apprenticeship, go to college, get a job (but it has to be partly educational). Basically, we have to be in education until we're 18. Sorry to anyone who already knew this.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, which I will now reply to...would it be greedy to ask for more? Until next week!

~ Annahhhhh

p.s. Guess who saw TFiOS, read the book in less than two days and is now obsessed...


End file.
